The No. 7 Marquette basketball has one of the most efficient offenses in the nation. The Golden Eagles are ranked 24th by KenPom in terms of adjusted offensive efficiency, with Shaka Smart’s team producing 118.5 points per 100 possessions. But on Saturday, that offense was slowed down by the Xavier Musketeers, who defeated the Golden Eagles to the tune of a 59-57 score.
Among the reasons Marquette basketball’s offense didn’t perform as effectively as usual in the Xavier game was the Musketeers’ defensive job on Golden Eagles senior star guard Kam Jones, who needed 13 attempts from the field to score just 11 points. Jones went 5-for-13 from the floor and committed four of the Golden Eagles’ 13 turnovers.
Despite Jones’ salty performance, Xavier head coach Sean Miller gave the senior his flowers after the game.
Via Ben Steele of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
“I’m a huge fan of his,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said. “There aren’t many players in college basketball that are better than Kam Jones.
“We did a good job. We tried to mix our coverage. We had a lot of different guys on him. But the thing about Marquette is when you switch – and they almost force you into that – you can’t have weak defenders make the switch.
Xavier got its payback against Marquette basketball
On the season, Jones is averaging 19.6 points on close to 50 percent shooting from the field (49.6 FG%). He is always going to be a marked man by opposing teams, which Xavier clearly showed in the rematch versus Marquette basketball.
In the first meeting with Xavier back in December, Jones had 20 points and eight assists while going 8-for-20 from the floor to help Marquette pull off a 72-70 win on the road.
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